Local who heads CalState TEACH program earns top regional
honor
Hollister resident Alice Flores, who is the regional director
for the Northern/West Central California CalState TEACH program,
was named administrator of the year for region 10 by the
Association of California School Administrators May 11.
Local who heads CalState TEACH program earns top regional honor
Hollister resident Alice Flores, who is the regional director for the Northern/West Central California CalState TEACH program, was named administrator of the year for region 10 by the Association of California School Administrators May 11.
“I sat there that evening and someone said, ‘Oh you are going to be recognized.’ I thought I would just stand up at the table, but I sat there waiting and when they got to the last two awards, they called my name,” Flores said. “They read a nice, little bio. I was surprised.”
Flores has been a board member for the Hollister School District for 19 years. The award, however, recognized her work at the California State University, Monterey Bay. Flores first got involved with the CalState TEACH program in 2000, when she was hired to develop an online prep course for the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET).
“I worked out of the Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach, and telecommuted,” she said. “I ran the program for five years and then moved over to the regional directorship in Monterey Bay in 2005.”
The original goal of the program was to alleviate a teacher shortage in California in the 1990s, and ensure that there were qualified and credentialed teachers in each classroom.
“Originally it was an internship and we had people working while they were in the internship and educational program,” Flores said. “The purpose was class-size reduction.”
Now the program is seen as a flexible option for some who want to get a teaching credential and in-class experience at the same time.
“It is a field-based program from the first day of the term,” Flores said. “It combines both the field and academic so students aren’t just in classes, taking courses and practicing. The academic work relates to what they are doing in the classroom on a day-to-day basis.”
Ida Jew, the faculty advisor for San Benito and South Santa Clara counties listed more than half a dozen San Benito schools where CalState Teach students are working, including the two middle schools, Calaveras, Gabilan Hills, Ladd Lane, Cerra Vista, Spring Grove and Santa Ana Opportunity School.
“For Hollister, it has been very beneficial,” Jew said, of the program. “A lot of my students are members of the community. They are parents so they are very familiar with Hollister and they want to stay in Hollister. They have a real commitment – a desire to be a teacher in Hollister.”
Jew’s goal in the program is to work with her student teachers on how to connect with the students, and she also focuses on working with English-language learners and special education students.
Jew stressed that she works with her students to teach them how to connect with their students “by taking the time to get to know the students, get aware of their goals and dreams and how to support the diversity of learners in the classroom.”
Jew also emphasized the freedom that taking classes online allots for the students to teach during the day.
“It’s very flexible and most districts that we work with really like CalState TEACH,” Flores said. “They have encouraged us by sending possible candidates – they like the rigor and practical application.”
To qualify, potential students have to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university; a grade-point average of 2.67 overall or 2.75 in the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units; two letters of recommendation; two sealed, official transcripts; writing proficiency shown through an autobiographical statement; an interview with a CalState TEACH faculty member; and passage of the California Basic Educational Skills Test and the CSET; and employment in a multiple-subject classroom.
The four-term program costs $2,347 per term for state university fees and materials. The courses are administered online with enrolled students required to do 12-15 hours of class work a week, in addition to their teaching. Students are also required to attend several Saturday sessions during the terms.
“By the time they finish the program, they have had about 900 hours of practical experience,” Flores said. “It is online so it is good for folks who have problems with childcare, or need to work part time, because it is flexible.
“There is less driving. They don’t have to go class and they don’t have to get childcare.”
The biggest challenge for most students is learning how to prioritize their time, Flores said.
“That’s a challenge for all of us,” she said. “They need to prioritize when to do coursework, when they are going to be part of the family, and if they are working, how to balance a work schedule. It is juggling of their time and resources.”
Flores said 96 percent of students who begin the program finish it, and many come from a background other than teaching.
“Once they go through the application process and have an interview, then they are pretty well committed to this is what I want to do,” she said.
Flores, who described her district as shaped like a pencil that encompasses counties from Monterey up to the Oregon border, said there are 20 faculty members who work with her as teacher trainers.
“The faculty are all experienced as principals, teachers, trainers and curriculum developers,” she said.
Each year the program sends out forms to the principals and master teachers at the schools were CalState Teach students are working and Flores’ district has been rated number one in the state out of the four regions for the last four years.
“We are very proud of that, to be recognized by the people who hire our students and people who work with our students,” Flores said.
Though some school districts have had layoffs in recent years due to budget cuts, Flores remains optimistic that the need for teachers will rebound.
She said she read a recent article that said 40 percent of people currently employed are 50 years or older.
“The first wave of Baby Boomers have started retiring,” she said. “We have higher retirements in some of the counties we serve this year than we had last year. I predict that we will have an even larger one next year. Education goes in cycles. It seems like we are not going to have teaching jobs, but within 18 months, we will have lots.”
For more information on the CalState Teach program, visit www.calstateteach.net or call 582-4642.
